A variety of regulatory molecules, known as cytokines, have been identified including interleukin-13 (IL-13). Various protein forms of IL-13 and DNA encoding various forms of IL-13 activity are described in McKenzie et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:3735 (1993); Minty et al., Nature 362:248 (1993); and Aversa et al., WO94/04680. Thus, the term "IL-13" includes proteins having the sequence and/or biological activity described in these documents, whether produced by recombinant genetic engineering techniques; purified from cell sources producing the factor naturally or upon induction with other factors; or synthesized by chemical techniques; or a combination of the foregoing.
IL-13 is a cytokine that has been implicated in production of several biological activities including: induction of IgG4 and IgE switching, including in human immature B cells (Punnonen et al., J. Immunol. 152:1094 (1994)); induction of germ line IgE heavy chain (.epsilon.) transcription and CD23 expression in normal human B cells (Punnonen et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:3730 (1993)); and induction of B cell proliferation in the presence of CD40L or anti-CD40 mAb (Cocks et al., Int. Immunol. 5:657 (1993)). Although many activities of IL-13 are similar to those of IL-4, in contrast to IL-4, IL-13 does not have growth promoting effects on activated T cells or T cell clones (Zurawski et al., EMBO J. 12:2663 (1993)).
Like most cytokines, IL-13 exhibits certain biological activities by interacting with an IL-13 receptor ("IL-13R") on the surface of target cells. IL-13R and the IL-4 receptor ("IL-4R") sharing a common component, which is required for receptor activation; however, IL-13 does not bind to cells transfected with the 130 kD IL-4R (Zurawski et al., supra). Thus, the IL-13R must contain at least one other ligand binding chain. Cytokine receptors are commonly composed or two or three chains. The cloning of one ligand binding chain for IL-13 has been recently reported (Hilton et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:497-501).
It would be desirable to identify and clone the sequence for any other IL-13 binding chain of IL-13R so that IL-13R proteins can be produced for various reasons, including production of therapeutics and screening for inhibitors of IL-13 binding to the receptor and receptor signaling.